At One Fell Swoop
by anniebethchase
Summary: Annabeth and her brothers have just moved to NYC after a terrible accident killed both their parents. With a new school, a new city and a new life, how can she appear as normal as possible, even with her emotions killing her inside? Rated T for later! AU.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hey guys! So, this is the first pjo story I've written, so don't be too harsh on me. The first chapter is more of a filler, so not much really happens but I can assure you that as the story goes on (if I continue it!) there will be more action! For now it's rated K, but it will probably progress to a T. With that, enjoy + R&R!**_

**AT ONE FELL SWOOP**

Chapter One

Annabeth's POV

My alarm clock buzzed with its shrill bleeping, signalling that it was time for me to get up. I looked to my right, where my batman clock lay on top of a pile of books on my bedside table. _Ugh, _I thought,_ 6:30am._ Can't I just have a lie in for once? I groggily rolled over so that I was facing the other way, and tried to drift back to sleep, ignoring the piercing ringing of the alarm. I'd just wait until dad came in and woke me up.

But then I realized. Dad wouldn't come into my room demanding that I get up or I'll be late for school. Mom wouldn't be making breakfast in the kitchen. They were gone, so it was my duty to take over as the parent in our new home. Aunt Jennifer certainly wouldn't be getting up to wake us.

I hauled myself out of bed, and sleepily made my way across the mess-filled rooms to the kitchen. Why were we put with Aunt Jennifer, of all people? I knew she wasn't going to care for us properly. She hardly gave a damn. The apartment is quite big, though it feels smaller than it actually is, considering I have to share it with two nine year olds and an aunt who leaves rubbish all over the place. We've only been here for three days and I already hate it. I look over to the living room, where there are toy cars and action figures strewn across the floor. How have they made a mess already? I made some space on the island in the kitchen and opened a packet of pancakes that you can put in the toaster; Bobby and Matthew's favourite. I bought them especially when I went grocery shopping yesterday. After making myself a cup of coffee, I went to wake up my brothers. When I saw them in their room, I chuckled to myself. Somehow in the night, Bobby had managed to end up with his head at the wrong end of the bed, and Matthew was sleeping sideways. Typical boys. I was just going to wake them up normally, but I had a sudden idea. As quietly as I could, I ran over to Bobby's bed and dived onto him.

"WAKE UP!" I shouted in his ear, with a slight song in my voice. "You too Matthew, you need to have breakfast before I take you to school."

"Annabeth" Bobby groaned, "It's too early, I want to go back to sleep."

"You have to get up sometime, it's your first day of school, remember?" I replied.

"I don't care!" whined Matthew.

"I've got pancakes."

That got them up. I've never seen them move so fast! Bobby almost knocked me over in his manic rush to get to the kitchen. I chuckled to myself and made a silent thank you to whoever was out there that I still had them, even if my parents were gone.

_FLASHBACK_

_We were on our way home from Bobby and Matthew's big soccer game of the season. Their team had won, with Matthew scoring the winning goal. It was a bright, sunny day, even if it was almost winter and there was a slight chill in the breeze. We'd just been to McDonalds as a special treat. All five of us were smiling and laughing and singing at the tops of our voices to a cheesy song from an 80s musical. Bobby and Matthew were waving their arms about, trying to dance in their seats. Dad turned around to tell them to stop or they'll distract other drivers. He was trying to be stern, even if he had a huge grin still plastered across his face. But we were coming up to an intersection, and he wasn't looking. All I remember was a sudden screeching sound and being thrown sideways, hitting my head on something hard. The last thing I remembered was an agonizing throbbing in my skull, before I drifted out of consciousness and into a dark oblivion._

After dropping my brothers off at their new elementary school, which was about a ten minute drive away from our new apartment, I made my way to Goode High School. Goode had an excellent reputation, with very high academic results as well as fantastic sports facilities. They supposedly had an amazing art and design department as well, which I, being an aspiring architect, was very excited about.

I pulled up into a space near the back of the parking lot about ten minutes before the bell was due to ring. As I made my way to the entrance, I was given a few side glances from other students, but I shrugged them off. I could understand their curiosity. After all, who transfers schools in the middle of a semester? I kept my head down, hoping keep a low profile and stay unnoticed. I didn't want anyone finding out about my past school or my parents; I didn't want anyone asking questions. I was determined not to let the kids treat me like they had at my last school, and so I needed to be inconspicuous. That meant no new friends. I wasn't getting into the mess everyone calls friendship again. Not after my ex-'best friend' Calypso told everyone all my secrets last time.

I kept my eyes facing the floor as I made my way to the administration's office, where I needed to sign in as a new student and get my timetable. The woman there was nice, but a bit too nice for my liking. I mean, come on, who is that happy at half past eight in the fricking morning? Before she could finish lecturing me about the school policies, the bell rang, signalling the time for first period. I quickly said my thanks and hurried off to class. I looked down at my timetable. First lesson was English.

When I briskly walked into class, I found that almost everyone else, including the teacher, was already there. Quite a few heads turned towards me as I hurried to the front of the room, where a middle-aged man with hunched shoulders was sitting, engrossed in a novel.

"Excuse me sir?" When he saw me, he sat up straighter and smiled.

"Oh, hello. Can I help you with something?"

"Yes actually, I'm your new student, Annabeth Chase. I was just wondering where you wanted me to sit." I saw him scanning the room, and I noticed there were only a few empty seats. I tried not to catch anyone's eye as I looked around, but I noticed almost everyone was staring at me.

"Go take that seat at the back in the corner, next to Percy. And by the way, my name is Mr Blofis."

"Thank you Mr Blofis" I replied.

As I made my way down one of the aisles, one of the students stuck his foot out to trip me. Before I knew it, I fell face-first onto the floor, my books going everywhere and the whole class burst out into laughter. Great, just great. I hurried to gather my things and made my way over to my seat, which was next to a tall boy with messy, jet black hair. When I sat down he turned to look at me, but first I caught him glaring and the jock who just caused me all that embarrassment. I looked up at his face and he turned to smile at me.

"Hey, what's your name?" he said.

"Annabeth, Annabeth Chase. What about you?"

He smiled again. "My name is Percy Jackson."


	2. Chapter 2

_**Hey guys! Thank you so much for all the alerts, I posted the last chapter just before I went to bed, and was astonished when I woke up in the morning! Thank you guys!**_

_**So last chapter was more of an introduction to the story, so this chapter is where I'm going to introduce some more characters. Hopefully I'll be able to update quite quickly for the first few chapters, since we're still in the Christmas holidays (I go back to school next week**____**). So as always, I hope you enjoy and R&R!**_

_**I also forgot to put the disclaimer in the first chapter, so just to remind you, **__**I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians; all characters belong to the amazing author Rick Riordan!**_

Chapter Two

Annabeth's POV

The bell signalling the start of lunch echoed through the vacant hallways of Goode High School. I can't admit that I'd been looking forward to lunch much, I mean, surely sitting alone at a table would give some stupid jock or cheerleader a reason to make yet another snide remark. So far, I've managed to control my anger, but I can still be pretty fierce if I want to be. I swear, if I had one more jock run into me or trip me up today, all Hades was going to break loose (Don't look too deep into the whole 'Hades' thing, I've just got a thing for Greek Mythology, okay?).

I got up from my seat in algebra class after most people had left, since I wasn't planning on repeating the little trip I had in English, and tried to navigate my way through the crowded hallways to my locker. After a few wrong turns I managed to find it, and took out the slip of paper out of my jeans pocket, which had my combination on it. 23-14-72. All I had to do now was remember where the administrations lady told me the cafeteria was.

I tried to follow the main direction of the crowd, but it was quite hard considering everyone seemed to be going in different directions. Eventually I stopped, as I had ended up in a part of the school that was unfamiliar, so I presumed I hadn't been there so far today. I'm usually good at remembering places. I tried to turn around to go back the other way, but the force of the crowd was too much. I ended up on the floor, being flattened by what felt like a herd of elephants.

I looked around panicked, as I tried to figure out a way to get back up. I was about to cry out for help, when all of a sudden I felt someone's grip on my arm, and was forcefully pulled to the side of the hall.

"You know, you're really going to have to get better at staying up if you ever want to get to the cafeteria before the crowd."

A tall girl with raven-black hair and startlingly blue eyes was staring down at me. She wore jet-black clothes from head to foot, which matched her hair and certainly brought out her eyes.

"Thanks, I guess I'll just get used to it." I replied, trying not to meet her gaze. This was embarrassing. But when I looked at her again, she smiled.

"You're the new girl, right? I'm Thalia."

"Annabeth."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Annabeth. Hey, do you want to come and have lunch with me and my friends?"

I contemplated this. On the up side, I would save myself from future bullying, but on the downside I'd decided to keep my head down and focus on my studies. I made a split second decision.

"Sure, that'd be great."

As we walked side by side into the crowded cafeteria, I noticed us getting a few side glances from the other students. They looked quite intimidated when they saw Thalia, and some turned away faster than you can say Hermes when Thalia shot them back an evil glare.

I decided to like Thalia. She seemed perfectly nice, and maybe befriending her would get the bullies off my back. We wormed our way past a few circular tables, and stopped when we arrived at what was probably the biggest table in the whole room. It was almost full, with teens that all looked about my age, but were all shapes and sizes. They looked like they were having great fun. There was a skinny girl with mousey-brown hair hitting a blonde boy who owned a mischievous-looking grin, as well as a big, muscular African-American guy who was laughing with a very pretty blonde girl. As I looked around the table, I concluded that this was the most bizarre group of people I had ever seen.

"Annabeth, over here!" called Thalia from the other side of the table.

I walked around to where she was sitting and perched on the chair next to her, unsure of what to do. She sat next to a pale boy with a long fringe, who was wearing nothing but black, just like Thalia. They looked like brother and sister. When she caught me looking at him, she elbowed him in the ribs, getting him to look up.

"Hey Nico, this is Annabeth. Annie, this is Nico."

"Do not call me Annie." I shot at her. I hated that nickname, it was awful. It always sounded so patronizing. When Thalia saw my annoyed expression, she let out a laugh.

"Okay then, I won't."

I smiled at Nico, forgetting that he could hear everything we were saying, and then turned back to look around the table for the second time. But before I could get all the way around, Thalia shouted in my ear.

"Hey guys! This is Annabeth. She's new here, it's her first day, so I want you all on your best behaviour, okay?"

From across the table I heard someone mutter "Damn, that girl is fine" and immediately felt my cheeks flush. I'd never had a boy say anything like that to me before, no one had even told me I was pretty (except my parents, but they don't count).

One of the girls scolded him. "Travis! Don't be so disrespectful!" This caused everyone else around the table to erupt into laughter.

"Ignore them. They're like an old married couple" said a deep voice next to me. I looked up to find the dark-haired guy who sits next to me in English class. What was his name again? Oh, Percy, right.

"You're Percy, aren't you? I think I sit next to you in English."

"Yeah, and you're Annabeth" he chuckled.

"The one and only" I replied.

"So how's your first day been? Goode is okay when you get used to it, but at first it may seem a bit daunting 'cause it's so big."

"You don't have to tell me, Thalia had to rescue me from the hallway floor. If she hadn't come to my aid, I think I would've died." I joked.

He laughed again. I studied his features as he took a sip of his water bottle. I hated to admit it, but Percy was good-looking. And I mean really good-looking. His sea-green eyes sparkled and I had noticed he usually wore a slight lop-sided grin. He was nice too.

I sighed outwardly as I fumbled with the keys to my car. I had to hurry or I'd be late to pick up Bobby and Matthew from soccer practice. I knew there would be lots of traffic at this time of day, and I didn't want them to be waiting in the cold.

"Hey Annabeth!" a girl's voice called to me, and I turned to find Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who I had been partnered with in algebra class earlier today. She had a jungle of auburn hair, which sprouted out from all directions on her head, and a splash of freckles across her nose. Rachel was friendly, but seemed a bit strange sometimes. She was big into art. I'd decided that I liked her though. I really needed to stop liking people. I never meant to make any friends today, and here I am, socializing left, right and centre!

"Hey" she panted again, since she'd just run all the way across the parking lot to my car. "You want to come over later? All the girls are coming to mine for a movie night, thought I'd ask if you wanted to join."

I was astonished. I never got invited anywhere. Especially not by other people in my school. But as much as I wanted to go, I was getting really late to pick up my brothers.

"Sorry Rachel, but I've kind of got something important to do. Thanks for the offer though!"

"It's fine, maybe next time, okay?"

"Sure" I replied, and she jogged back off to her car.

Bobby and Matthew burst past me as I opened the door to Aunt Jennifer's apartment. They were covered from head to toe in mud, and I yelled at them to go take a shower as soon as possible. I turned back to throw their soccer bags over my shoulder, but caught sight of a familiar face coming down the hall.

"Annabeth?" he asked.

"Oh, hey Percy. How come you're here?"

"I live in this building, right there to be exact." He pointed to an apartment a few doors down.

"Oh, well that's cool I-"

"Hang on, doesn't some middle-aged woman live in this apartment?" He gestured inside the ajar door.

"Oh, um yeah. It's my Aunt Jennifer's apartment. We live here now. My brothers and I."

"I'm guessing they're the boys covered in mud running around your living room" he noted.

"Running around my what-" I cut myself off mid-sentence and started to yell at my brothers to go clean up. It went something along the lines of "Hey, if one of you doesn't get into the shower right now, I'll make sure you never eat pancakes again!" That surely made them run. I had no idea what made pancakes so important to them, but it made threatening them much easier.

"Where do your parents live?" Percy asked. I've got to admit I didn't see that question coming, but I guess he had a fair enough point. Still, it hit me like a punch in the gut.

"I, err, they" I stuttered, trying to come up with a good lie. "They're out on a business trip. That's why we're living here for a while." Jeez, good thinking Annabeth, a business trip that's going to have to last forever. I am so bad at lying.

"Well that's cool," he shrugged, "I guess I'll see you around." Percy turned and carried on walking down the hall.

Well, it looks like I've got a new neighbour.

_**Thanks again for all the reviews guys, sorry I haven't replied to some of them – I will in the next chapter! As always, R&R!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Hey guys, I am SO sorry for the long wait. I've had tonnes of exams this month so I've been busy studying! They're all over now so I'm super happy and promised myself I'd write you guys another chapter. Thanks to all of you who reviewed/favourited/followed. I'll try and update much more regularly now, which I think I might be able to do! Enjoy + R&R! **_

Chapter Three

Annabeth's POV

_The darkness came crashing down all around me. I was paralyzed, unable to move or cry for help. In the distance, I could hear people shouting, but couldn't do anything to respond. I was sinking, down and down into an endless cavern of darkness. I was screaming internally, but no one came. I was alone. I would always be alone. I eventually started to give up trying to hold on, and let the darkness overcome me._

I was shaken awake vigorously by two small hands. I snapped my eyes open, but found that I was still unable to control my body. I could see only white, and didn't have a sense of where I was.

"Annabeth?" I felt the shaking again. "Hey are you okay?"

My vision slowly adjusted, allowing me to see the two mousey-brown haired boys before me. I relaxed when I saw them, and permitted myself to have a deep breath. It was okay, I realized, everything had just been a dream.

"Yeah I'm fine Bobby."

"Annabeth, you were screaming."

_Screaming?_ Really? I'm used to bad dreams and restless nights, but I've only really screamed in my sleep a couple of times before. I'm usually good a controlling my fears.

"Don't worry kiddo, it was just a bad dream, that's all. What time is it?"

"Ummm, 7:23" said Matthew. Wait, _7:23?_ School starts in just over half an hour! I've overslept, and that's something I never, ever do. Stupid dreams. I jumped out of bed, and threw on the first things I found in my wardrobe. I ended up with a pair of denim shorts, an old band t-shirt and sneakers. It would have to do.

"Bobby! Matthew! Are you guys ready for school?" I called as I ran to the bathroom to brush my teeth.

"Yeah, we're dressed but we haven't had breakfast!" Damn. I'd overslept which meant that they hadn't been able to get ready by themselves. I ran to the kitchen and grabbed them both a box of cereal and poured half a carton of milk into it. Maybe not the best idea, but it was the first thing I could think of.

I grabbed them each a spoon, shouldered my bag and ushered them out of the door. The time was now 7:45. Crap.

*.*.*.*

By the time I got to school, it was halfway through first period. My second day of school, and I'm already late? I quickly parked my car and made a mad dash to my locker. My first lesson was Greek. I doubted I'd be missing much; my real mom was from Greece so my dad made sure I could speak it. I'm pretty much fluent, so I didn't think missing half an hour of class was going to do much.

When I walked into Room 17, the first person I saw was an old guy with a shaggy beard, who was in a wheelchair. If he hadn't been wearing a suit, I might have thought that he was homeless.

"Ah Miss Chase, I wondered if you'd be joining us this morning."

_Well crap. That's already one teacher that doesn't like me,_ I thought, _just what I need._ "Sorry sir." I replied sheepishly.

"You're missing a valuable lesson Miss Chase. With it being the second day of the semester, I am not impressed with your tardiness. Your seat is over there, next to Mr Castellan."

I looked over at a tanned, blond boy who looked like he could have been a movie star, except he had a long white scar running from his left eye down to his jaw. I wonder what could've caused that. He smiled at me, but I hurriedly looked to the floor. I reminded myself that I had made too many acquaintances already; I wanted to keep my profile down.

For the rest of Greek, sat gazing out the window and thought about my real mom. I'd never really known her, but my dad said she'd been really beautiful. Her name was Athena, like the Greek goddess. I'd got my blonde, curly hair and grey eyes from my mom. I hated my eyes. They always seemed to make people afraid of me.

I was interrupted from my daydreams by the voice of Mr Brunner, the teacher.

"Miss Chase, what is the answer to the last question?"

_Well that's it. I'm done for._

"Sorry Mr Brunner, could you repeat it please?"

"That's what I thought Miss Chase. May I ask why you're not taking any notes either? Is my class not important to you?"

"Είμαι άπταιστα ελληνικά. Δεν χρειάζεται καν να είναι εδώ. _(I'm fluent in Greek. I don't even need to be here)_" I muttered.

Mr Brunner looked dumbfounded. I guess he'd heard me then.

"_Repeat that again please" _he told me. I sighed.

"Είπα ότι είμαι άπταιστα ελληνικά. Συγγνώμη για προσβάλλοντας κύριε διδασκαλία σας. _(I said that I'm fluent in Greek. I'm sorry for disrespecting your teaching sir.)_"

Wait. Had he asked me that in Greek too? I looked around that class and everyone's expressions were, well, priceless. They all stared at me with open mouths, gawking at me. Oh well, I guess I'm not a straight A student for nothing.

"Thank you Miss Chase. I'd like to speak to you at the end of class, if you don't mind."

*.*.*.*

"Hey Annabeth" I turned to see someone I vaguely recognized leaning on the wall outside the Greek room.

"Oh, um hey." I replied, hoping that this wasn't going to be an awkward conversation about my living arrangements.

"That was some kickass Greek you were speaking in there. Don't worry about Mr Brunner, he's a good guy really."

"Uh, cool. You must think I'm weird for being fluent in a weird language now right?" I said timidly, staring at the floor.

"Hey no way. I think it's totally φοβερός _(awesome)_"

"Wait, you speak Greek?" I said, dumbfounded. Percy didn't exactly strike me as the study-hard sort of guy.

"Yeah, my dad was Greek, so my mom insisted I learnt it."

Quite similar to my arrangement, I supposed. Although I bet Percy's wasn't quite as complicated.

We ended up walking to the next class in a comfortable silence, neither of us really knowing what to say. I didn't really know what to make of Percy. I mean, he was amazingly gorgeous, with his messy black hair and sea-green eyes. I bet loads of girls in school had a crush on him.

"So how come you were so late today?"

Crap. I had not seen that question coming. I didn't have an answer that wouldn't make me sound like a freak. I mean, a seventeen year old girl acting like a mom and living pretty much alone with two nine year old boys? Nothing about my predicament is normal. I cursed myself silently.

"Um there was just a lot of traffic, that's all"

Jeez Annabeth, way to go. You get a prize for being the world's worst liar ever.

"Really?" Percy replied, "I came from the same place and it didn't take me that long." _Oh god, how can I get him to drop the subject?_ I thought, whilst scanning my brain for a topic that could change the conversation. "I guess you just got caught up in rush hour, huh."

I let out an audible sigh of relief, glad that he'd accepted my alibi. Percy seemed cool, but I'd told myself not to get attached to anyone or make any friends.

"So do you want to hang with us again at lunch?" he offered, and I was touched at how sincerely polite he sounded. He was actually making an effort to be my friend.

I smiled. "Yeah sure, I don't think I'd be much of an asset to your group though." That last part was true. I hadn't even brushed my hair this morning, and I knew I probably had dark bags under my eyes from the bad dreams.

"Nonsense. We'd be happy to have you."

*.*.*.*

**_Voilà! I know this story is progressing slowly. But Annabeth and Percy need to become closer before anything happens. You guys understand that right?_**

**_Question for you: What's the best book you've ever read? I'm interested!_**

**_Thank you and reviews are much appreciated!_**


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